NI USB-6003

USB-6003 on Windows, Linux and Mac

NI supports the USB-6003 with NI-DAQmx on Windows 11, Windows 10 LTSC and Windows Server 2022 and 2025. The NI compatibility table marks it “Not Supported” on desktop Linux, so NI’s Linux driver packages won’t talk to it. Nothing current runs it on macOS either. NI-DAQmx has no Mac version, and NI-DAQmx Base ended at version 15.0 with macOS 10.14. On Windows, NI MAX gives you test panels, FlexLogger Lite gives you no-code logging, and the NI-DAQmx API works from LabVIEW, C and Python. DAQAtlas, which is in development, reaches the USB-6003 through DAQAtlas Bridge on the Windows PC, and the NI DAQ on a Mac guide shows the full setup.

Using 100 kS/s without fooling yourself

The 100 kS/s rate is shared across the scan list because one SAR converter is multiplexed across all eight inputs. Two channels get 50 kS/s each, eight get 12.5 kS/s each. Any signal content above half the per-channel rate folds back into your data unless you filter it out first. The sample rate and aliasing guide explains how to pick a rate and when to add an external filter. When you scan several channels quickly from high-impedance sources, incomplete settling between channels shows up as crosstalk, so keep source impedance low or slow the scan.

The input range is ±10 V only, which gives a code width of about 0.3 mV at 16 bits, with 26 mV absolute accuracy at full scale over temperature per NI’s specifications. The two analog outputs are 16-bit, ±10 V and hardware-timed at up to 5 kS/s per channel. There are 13 digital lines and one 32-bit edge counter, and it is bus powered over USB Full Speed. NI’s list price at the time of writing is $928 for both the enclosed kit and the OEM board.